Mike Mignola and Lemony Snicket Collaborate on New ‘Pinocchio’ Edition

Beehive Books has raised more than US$260,000 in a Kickstarter campaign to fund a new edition of Carlo Collodi’s classic children’s tale Pinocchio, featuring more than 50 original illustrations by Hellboy creator Mike Mignola along with annotations by author Lemony Snicket.

The annotations, in the form of removable typewritten sheets, will relate Snicket’s experience reading the story for the first time, “in all of its bubbling stew of anarchic madness, surreal symbolism, and social commentary,” the publisher states. Snicket, the pseudonym of Daniel Handler, is best known for A Series of Unfortunate Events, the popular children’s book series.

Mignola’s illustrations will be colored by Dave Stewart, who has also worked with the artist on Hellboy comics and several spinoffs.

Collodi’s story will be presented in an English-language translation by Carol della Chiesa. The book is slated for delivery later this year.

Multiple Versions

Beehive’s Pinocchio is the latest in a series of “Illuminated Editions,” consisting of classic literary works in lavishly designed and illustrated volumes.

The publisher originally offered three versions of the book: A standard 9x12-inch cloth-bound edition packaged in a die-cut slipcase, plus two enhanced limited editions signed by Mignola and Snicket.

The standard edition is still available for a pledge of $100 or more, but the reward tiers for the limited editions quickly sold out. However, one of those editions is still available – for a pledge of US$3500 or more – in a tier that includes signed and numbered volumes of all 10 books in the series.

Among the other titles: Peter Pan, The Island of Doctor Moreau, David Lindsay’s A Voyage to Arcturus, and The Kwaidan Collection, featuring supernatural Japanese stories by Lafcadio Hearn.

Since launching the Pinocchio campaign, Beehive added tiers for two new versions: The $250 “Marionette Edition” and $1000 “Puppet Master Edition.”

These are similar to the limited editions that sold out, but won’t be signed. Both feature foiled page edges, a foil fine art print, and a bound-in silk ribbon. The Puppet Master edition includes a cloth clamshell case and a foil-blocked fine art print in a cloth-bound framing matte. Backers in both tiers will also have access to digital versions of every book in the Illuminated Editions series, including future ones.

“Our Minds Are Blown”

The crowdfunding campaign launched on March 15 and met its US$50,000 fundraising goal within minutes. It passed $200,000 later that day.

“Our minds are blown, honestly,” Beehive publisher Josh O’Neill told us in an email.

Since launching the campaign, Beehive also announced two stretch goals. If it reaches $300,000, physical editions will include a letter-sized fine art print by Mignola and Stewart. At $350,000, backers will get a bookmark with an illustration by Mignola.

The campaign runs through April 20. Beehive is estimating a September delivery for the digital edition followed by the printed editions in December. Learn more on the Kickstarter page and the publisher’s website.

Illustrations on Display

Mignola’s illustrations for the book will also be on display in an exhibition, “Picturing Pinocchio: Mignola Makes a Marionette,” set for March 22 through July 8 at the Society of Illustrators museum in New York City.

In a description of the exhibition, the society notes that Collodi’s story is “somewhat paradoxically ill-remembered” despite being so well known. The society described the new edition as an effort to “unDisnify one of the strangest, most startling pieces of fiction ever to be beloved by generations of children worldwide.”

The Society of Illustrators is located at 128 East 63rd Street, New York, NY 10065. Museum admission for non-members costs $15 for adults and $10 for seniors and students.

Related: Mike Mignola Talks His New ‘Pinnochio’ Project (Dread Central)